Planting Fall & Winter Crops

It is difficult to think about fall and winter crops when the tomatoes are just starting to ripen on the vine. Alas, that is the life of an urban farmer – always looking ahead to the coming season. It’s time to start plugging seeds in here and there to make sure we have good food to harvest through winter.

Over-wintering beets

There are some tricks to working in fall crops without removing too much from the summer garden. One strategy is to replace something removed with something planted. For example, anytime I pull a beet I replace it with a beet seed. That way I’m staggering the planting for a continual harvest. Beets are an excellent, hardy choice for the fall and winter garden.

Vegetables like kale, collard greens and swiss chard are staple crops we live off of during the darkest months of the year. We grow those in open beds. But another winter gardening strategy is to use row covers for the more tender plants, like lettuces. I use pvc pipes to hoop over our beds and secure greenhouse plastic over them. You’ll need to water them throughout the winter, but I can extend the fall harvest through winter in these warmer environments.

Over-wintering collards

Other fall and winter crops to consider: cabbage, leeks, onions, cauliflower, rutabaga, turnips, brussel sprouts and parsnips. Your local garden shop should be a great resource for more winter gardening tips specific to your region.

Winter cabbage – as pretty as it is delicious!

What have you successfully harvested through the winter and what part of the country do you live in? We have milder winters here in Portland, but I love hearing strategies from really cold-weather gardeners!

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Nothing grows in the harsh Wisconsin winters without lots of assistance. I don’t have that kind of time since I teach during the school year. But I am able to over-winter parsnips & carrots in the garden, digging as we need to. I’ve grown leggy lettuce in Feb on the windowsill just so there’s something fresh & green to nibble and remind us that winter doesn’t last forever. Of course, I have a few herbs in the kitchen, too. Mostly, we just hunker down, tuck in, and enjoy all the foods a summer’s worth of gardening provides us!

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Hello homesteader! I'm Renee Wilkinson and this is where I've chronicled my adventures in homesteading since 2007. Here you will find 1,000+posts on modern homestead projects, edible landscape design and the occasional life update. Read More…